Kelly Osbourne opened up about a powerful memory involving the late Matthew Perry, recounting how the “Friends” actor helped her during her first rehab stint at just 19 years old. Perry, who passed away at 54, played an unexpected but pivotal role in Osbourne’s journey to sobriety, and she shared the emotional story on TMZ Investigates: Matthew Perry & The Secret Celebrity Drug Ring.
Osbourne, who had struggled with addiction since she was 13 after being prescribed opioids following a routine tonsil removal, revealed that meeting Perry during rehab had a lasting impact on her recovery. “He helped so many people. He helped me one day,” Osbourne recalled.
“I was 19 years old, and I was in rehab for the first time, and I just wanted to run—it wasn’t clicking. I didn’t get it. I’d never felt more insecure or hated myself more,” she explained, told OK! Magazine.
Seeing Osbourne’s struggle, Perry stepped in with a simple but meaningful gesture. “He could see that I was struggling, and he walked up to me, and he gave me a chip, and it said ‘three minutes,’” she remembered. “He told me, ‘If you can get through three minutes, you can get through anything.’” Rehab chips, often used as tokens of sobriety milestones, hold deep significance in recovery, and that one chip helped Osbourne push through.
“That chip got me through that day, which then got me through the next day, and I’ll never forget that,” Osbourne said, adding that Perry’s kindness left a lasting impression.
Osbourne also dropped a bombshell about the existence of a secret celebrity drug network that extends beyond just dealers. “At one point, I was going to like six different doctors,” she admitted, explaining how she would call doctors in New York, LA, and London for drug prescriptions. “If you want an Adderall doctor, then I knew who to talk to,” she said, exposing the disturbing reality of Hollywood’s access to controlled substances.
Dr. Drew Pinsky also weighed in on the secretive nature of Hollywood’s drug culture, saying, “Every drug addict knows a secret ring that they can hook up with, but celebrities more so than anyone.” He added, “It’s not just a drug ring, there’s also a secret physician ring… and all of it’s bad.”
Perry’s tragic death in October was ruled as caused by the “acute effects of ketamine,” with further contributing factors including coronary artery disease and buprenorphrine, a prescription medication. Several arrests have since been made in connection to his overdose, including Jasveen Sangha, known as “The Ketamine Queen,” and Dr. Salvador Plasencia, both facing serious charges for distributing ketamine.
Reflecting on Perry’s death, Osbourne expressed sorrow but acknowledged the harsh reality of addiction. “When you think about how much pain he must have been in, it’s devastating. But at the same time, he was an addict, and you can’t be shocked when an addict passes away… It ends in three places—jails, institutions, or death.”